Ultra Series/Cultural References
As one of Japan's popular Tokusatsu which falls into daikaiju and kyodai genre, the Ultra Series had been parodied and referenced in popular culture multiple times, commonly for the first Ultraman's Specium Ray. Anime/Manga Dragonball The manga later anime series of Dragonball written by Akira Toriyama featured the female character Chi-Chi, whom as a child worn a helmet that allowed her to initiate attacks that similar to Ultraseven's Emerium Ray and Eye Slugger. In one episode, she comically uses the move 'Stay Away From Me!' to launch the Eye Slugger into Roshi's forehead, and although he was none the worse for wear, he had to wear a large plaster over the wound for the rest of the episode. Chi-Chi wear this helmet in every games that features her as a child. Chi-Chi Helmet_Beam.jpg|That Won't Work Chi-Chi Helmet_Blade.jpg|Stay Away From Me! Dr. Slump Dr. Slump manga, later adapted into anime series Dr. Slump & Arale-chan written by Akira Toriyama, features several characters and references in the Ultra Series. In the first manga, Akira's chibi caricature of the original Ultraman was shown. Arale Norikami, the main character is a big fan of the original Ultraman series and often pretends to be him. At one instance, in the 18th chapter of the manga and the second part of the sixth episode named Arale is Kidnapped!, while Arale was (unknowingly) kidnapped with Gatchan by a bank robber, she thought that the robber wants to play so she pretended herself as the original Ultraman. In the 24 chapter, Barber Shop Panic: Part 2, a female cop named Polly Buckets sang the Ultraman no Uta, Ultraman's opening song. While an old woman wants Gyaosu's microphone, Ultraseven made his cameo appearances on the back. Several characters in the Penguin Village seems to have tributes to the Ultra Series' characters. Among them are Nekotoraman and Nekotora-7. While in the first episode of the anime series, Nekotoraman was seen pulling up the sun with his fishing rod. Alien Baltan rarely shown hanging on a tree. In 82nd chapter, Space Patrol Squad, a group of comical alien invaders rode a spaceship that resembles Ultraman's head. Haitai Nanafa Moe anthropomorphisms of King Joe, Eleking, Alien Temperor, Zetton and Alien Mefilas made their appearance in the 20th episode of the series. Nanafa kaijuu.jpg|Alien Temperor, Eleking, and King Joe Haitai_z-ton.jpg|Zetton Haitai_kaijuu.jpg|Alien Mefilas and Alien Temperor Jaco the Galactic Patrolman , is an eleven-chapter comedy manga by Akira Toriyama. It ties in with his Dragon Ball manga. It is part of Toriyama's "Galactic Patrol series", along with Sachi-chan Gū!! and Jiya. The main character, Jaco was designed after Ultraman and Frieza's fourth form from Dragonball. Wonder Island is a two part one-shot manga written by Akira Toriyama. It is notable for being Toriyama's first published manga. The setting of this manga, Wonder Island, appears later on in Dr. Slump. In the second chapter, while waiting for Dirty Harry's arrival, Gyaosu and his men play war between Ultraman and Godzilla. This second chapter of Wonder Island is a second chance given to Akira Toriyama by his editor Kazuhiko Torishima to demonstrates his talents. Toriyama introduces many references to popular culture in this chapter (Godzilla, Ultraman, Astro Boy, King Kong, Star Wars). Despite this, the manga will not gain the sympathy of the Shōnen Jump readers. Cultural Influences Emoticons While the Ultra Series franchise had gotten more popular, two of the franchise's most popular character, the original Ultraman and Alien Baltan had their own emoticons. *Ultraman: (o|o) *Alien Baltan: (V)o￥o(V) Cartoons The Simpsons A couch gag which is first seen in the fifteenth season has the members of the family appear as well-known anime, manga and tokusatsu characters in Tokyo. Marge is Jun from Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Lisa is Usagi Tsugino from Sailor Moon, Bart is AstroBoy, and Homer appears as Ultraman himself. He is initially seen in the background as a giant, then flies and shrinks in front of the TV , performs a few attacks and finally uses his Specium Ray to turn on the TV. X-men: The Animated Series In episode 14 of the fifth season of X-men: The Animated Series, an alien that bears a strong similarity to Alien Flip appears in a sequence montage of aliens that live in the universe. Another Alien Flip also appeared in the episode entitled 'Mojo Vision' as one of the many alien spectators. Ben 10 franchise The alien Way Big, the Omnitrix's DNA sample of a To'kustar, is designed after Ultraman in body form, color scheme, and height. Ultimate Way Big also seems to be based of Ultraman Taro in body form, but his color scheme is more closely related to Ultraman Cosmos. Way Big Way_big_Ben 10.png|Way Big first debuted in Ben 10. Way_big_Ben 10 Alien Force & Ultimate Alien.png|Way Big as in Ben 10 Alien Force & Ben 10 Ultimate Alien. Way_Big_Ben 10 Omniverse.PNG|Way Big as in Ben 10 Omniverse Way_Big_Ben 10 Omniverse Mad Ben ver.png|Mad Ben (evil counterpart of Ben Tennyson) as Mad Way Big. Omni-Big-cosmic.png|Way Big performing Cosmic Ray. Ultimate Way Big Ultimate_way_big.png|Ultimate Way Big in Ben 10 Ultimate Alien Ultimate_Way_Big_004.png|Ultimate Way Big performing Cosmic Ray. Ultimate_Way_Big_005.png|Ultimate Way Big performing Energy Disk attack. Ultimate_way_big_flight.png|Ultimate Way Big maneuvering flight in a manner of Ultraman's rise transformation. Ultimate_way_big_spin.png|Ultimate Way Big spinning by maneuvering acceleration. Pokémon In a episode of the Advanced series called 'A Corphish Out of Water', Team Rocket mimics Alien Baltan while they were performing their motto. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 series) In the episode "The Legend of Kuro Kabuto", a professional burglar named Anton Zeck (Bebop) had a power where he could use the crest on his helmet and throw it at enemies similar to Ultraseven's Eye Slugger. Olive the Other Reindeer In the holiday special, near the end as Olive, Santa Claus, and the other reindeer as they were passing by Japan a giant monster referencing Godzilla, and a giant super hero referencing Ultraman were seen singing the end song with each other Regular Show In the 100th episode special episode "A Bunch of Full Grown Geese", during the final battle between the giant Baby Ducks and the giant Full Grown Geese, the ducks used a attack similar to Ultraman's Specium Ray the only difference being that he fired it from his left side instead of his right like Ultraman. Comic Books Marvel Miclas, un-related to the one that appeared as a capsule monster, appeared on the Marvel Universe, Earth-616's Monster Isle with creatures like Skreeal, Giganto, Tricephalous and Ugu. Miclas was one of the many monsters to terrorize the Skrull scouting party and their leader, Bag Le. He was subdued with Slave Darts and teleported around the globe in order to increase the mental stress level across the planet and cause mass confusion. Trivia *Miclas in the Marvel universe is the only one depicted as an evil entity. *The Marvel Miclas has not shown to have any powers besides brute strength. *Miclas managed to show up in Marvel comics due to Popy liscensing their Ultraseven sofubi toys to Mattel for distribution in the United States, who integrated them into a spinoff of their Shogun Warriors toy line called Godzilla's Gang. At the time, Mattel had Marvel market these toys through their comics. Videogames Movies Big Hero 6 The 2014 Disney movie Big Hero 6, during one of the scenes in Hiro Hamada's bedroom, you can see a mask of Ultraman. Yet this was interesting since the boy lives in the City of Fransokyo (a combination of Tokyo, Japan and San Francisco, America). BIONICLE 2: Legends of Metru Nui Right near the film's falling action, while Turaga Lhikan was slowly dying from the impact after protecting Toa Vakama from Makuta Teridax, the Heartlight on his chest slowly blinks until it faded away when Lhikan died. This was likely a reference to the Ultra Troupe when an Ultra died, his Color Timer slowly blinked and completely faded. The whole Heartlight concept may be a reference to the Ultraman franchise. Other Tokusatsu Gekisou Sentai Carranger Braking has a weapon which he detaches from his head similar to Ultraseven's eye slugger. It's name is the King Slugger. Real-life Influences These are list of peoples and real life-related things whose inspiration towards Ultraman had influence their life. Akira Toriyama born on April 5, 1955, in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture) is a widely acclaimed Japanese manga and game artist who lives in Kiyosu. Akira had mentioned himself as a big fan of Ultra Series and Godzilla films, putting several elements from the Ultra Series into his works such as Dragonball, Dr. Slump, Jaco the Galactic Patrolman and Wonder Island. Category:Browse